14032019-TTC-01.qxd 14-03-2019 01:26 Page 1 13 chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | jammu | srinagar | vol.3 no.72 | 16 pages | ~4.50 | regd.no.chd/0006/2018-2020 established in 1881 | thursday, march 14,2019 BJP, ASOM GANA PARISHAD SEAL ELECTORAL ALLIANCE PAGE 7 LESS THAN 26% INDIVIDUALS HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE IN REGION PAGE 12 /thetribunechd IN BRIEF /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com J&K Assembly poll date soon Masood’s listing Guv meets PM I Green signal to security situation post anti-terror ops blocked yet again Arun Joshi Tribune News Service ~52,750 crore earmarked by Azim Premji for philanthropy New Delhi: IT czar Azim Premji has earmarked economic benefits of about 34% of his shares in Wipro, worth ~52,750 crore, for his foundation involved in philanthropy. With this, the total value of the endowment corpus, which supports Azim Premji Foundation's philanthropic activities, contributed by Premji has swelled to ~1.45 lakh crore, including 67% of economic ownership of Wipro Ltd. PAGE 12 Cong to contest 20 and JD(S) 8 seats in LS polls Bengaluru: The Congress will contest 20 seats and JD(S) eight in the LS polls in Karnataka under a deal finalised on Wednesday. The seat sharing was hammered out at a meeting between Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and JD(S) secretary general Danish Ali. PAGE 7 MR Kumar is LIC Chairman New Delhi: The government on Wednesday appointed MR Kumar as the Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation and Vipin Anand and TC Suseel Kumar as the managing directors. MD Hemant Bhargava had been named interim Chairman after VK Sharma’s retirement on December 31. PTI Jammu, March 13 The Election Commission of India (ECI) will be announcing the schedule for the Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir in a few days as the government appears to have made up its mind to give the green signal on the security front following a barrage of criticism over its backfoot approach on the crucial issue. The announcement was put off when the ECI listed the poll schedule for the General Election on Sunday. “Something happened that made the ECI hold back the announcement. It was to be hybrid polling, but at the last minute, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the state government raised the bar, seeking security forces at 800 companies plus,” revealed a source. Decks seem to have been cleared now after Governor Satya Pal Malik met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Tuesday. The security situation and preparedness of the state government for holding the crucial polls were discussed threadbare. The thrust was on the security situation, that has assumed new and serious dimensions post the SpiceJet cancels 35 Max 8 flights today New Delhi, March 13 All Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft being operated by Indian airlines have been grounded and around 35 flights of SpiceJet would be cancelled on Thursday consequently, Civil Aviation Secretary PS Kharola said today. He said Thursday would be a “challenging” day as “out of 520 odd flights that SpiceJet flies every day, about 3035 will have to be cancelled”. SpiceJet has been most affected by the grounding of 737 Max 8 aircraft as it has 12 of them in its fleet. Jet Airways has not been affected as its five 737 Max 8 aircraft have already been grounded owing to non-payment of dues to lessors. As the Ethiopian Airlines’ 737 Max 8 crashed killing all 157 persons on Sunday, Indian aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday night announced that the MEN IN BLUE LOSE ODI SERIES TO AUSTRALIA PAGE 14 NO SURGE PRICING ■ Operators have agreed not to indulge in "predatory pricing", the secretary said ■ DGCA chief BS Bhullar said lifting the ban on Max 8 aircraft will be based on inputs from agencies and will not happen soon ■ DGCA said it will monitor fare levels regularly . Boeing Max 8 aircraft would be “immediately” grounded. On Wednesday morning, it said no Max 8 aircraft would be allowed to fly in Indian airspace from 4 pm. “Today, SpiceJet just cancelled 14 flights... They were able to accommodate the passengers within their own system,” Kharola said. — PTI Pak shells hit Poonch trade centre Two shells fired from Pakistan landed near Chakan Da Bagh trade facilitation centre in J&K’s Poonch district on Wednesday. No casualty was reported as staff took cover inside bunkers. PAGE 10 ‘Army deserter’ shot in Pulwama Anantnag, March 13 A 25-year-old man, who was declared a “deserter” by the Army, was today shot dead by suspected militants in Pulwama district of south Kashmir. Identified as Showkat Ahmad Naik, son of Muhammad Yousuf Naik, the deceased was a resident of Pinglena village. “Militants opened fire at him, apparently from pointblank range, right outside his house,” a senior police official said. The body was handed over to his family In race for DGP even if 6-month tenure left: SC New Delhi, March 13 Officers who have a minimum of six months of service left before retirement would be eligible for empanelment by the Union Public Service Commission for selection to the post of Director General of Police in states, the Supreme Court said today. Clarifying the top court’s July 3, 2018, order, a Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the recommendation for appointment of DGP by the UPSC and preparation of panel should be purely on the basis of merit from among officers having a minimum residual tenure of six months. The Bench passed the order on an application by former Uttar Pradesh DGP Prakash Singh, who claimed the July directive, asking the UPSC to consider only those who have two years of service left, was being misused by governments by ignoring competent senior officers. — PTI after medico-legal formalities. Rejecting media reports that Naik was a soldier, the Army clarified that he was a “deserter”. Defence spokesperson Rajesh Kalia said Naik enrolled in the Territorial Army (TA) in January 2018. “He came to the regimental centre in March but went on three-day leave in September and never returned. He was later declared a deserter by the Army,” Kalia said. He said Naik was technically a civilian after deserting his training. — TNS February 14 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF men were killed, the subsequent airstrikes on Balakot in Pakistan and the retaliatory action by Pakistan that brought the situation to the brink. The Prime Minister and the Governor were satisfied with the anti-militancy operations in Kashmir, with a sizeable section of the leadership of the Kashmir chapter of Pakistan-headquartered Jaish-eMohammad eliminated. After the ECI on March 10 held back announcement on the Assembly polls in J&K, serious questions were raised regarding the intentions of the government, with the political leadership in Kashmir suspecting foul play. While Peoples Democratic Party chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti read “sinister designs” in not holding the Assembly polls along with those for the Lok Sabha, Omar Abdullah of the National Conference described it as an “abject surrender to Pakistan”. Both leaders questioned Modi’s image of a “strong” Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the special observers appointed by the Election Commission will start their three-day visit to the state from Thursday to assess the ground situation. At UN, China opposes terror tag 4th time un/NEW DELHI, MARCH 13 In yet another setback to India’s bid to designate Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, China today put a “technical hold” on a proposal in the UN Security Council to ban him following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack. The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, the UK and US on February 27, days after the Pulwama attack, leading to a flare-up in tensions between India and Pakistan. The Committee members had 10 working days to raise any objections to the proposal. But just before the end of the deadline today, China put a hold on the proposal, asking for “more time to examine” it. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the past 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist. According to the listing rules of the Committee, if no objection is received by the end of the no-objection period, the decision will be deemed adopted. According to sources, the statement of the case of the lat- DISAPPOINTED: INDIA We are disappointed by this outcome… we are grateful for the efforts of the member states…we will continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders are brought to justice. MEA statement ❝ . est proposal by France mentioned that JeM had taken responsibility for the Pulwama attack killing 40 CRPF men. It also noted that Azhar was a former leader of Harkat-ulMujahideen and had given a call to volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against Western forces. India had moved a proposal in 2009 and again in 2016 with the P3 — the US, the UK and France — in the UN to ban Azhar. In 2017, the P3 moved a similar proposal again, but on all occasions China blocked these. — PTI Raj Babbar and Shinde on 2nd Cong list of 21 New Delhi, March 13 Former Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar are among 21 Lok Sabha candidates announced by the Congress in its second list here today. The list consists of 16 candidates for UP and five for Maharashtra. Shinde has represented Solapur thrice. The late Sunil Dutt’s daughter Priya Dutt will contest from Mumbai North Central; the late Murli Deora’s son Milind Deora will be the candidate from Mumbai South and AICC Kisan Cell chief Nana Patole from Nagpur. From UP, the party has fielded sitting Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh from Sultanpur, where Varun Gandhi, the nephew of UPA chief Sonia Gandhi, is the incumbent MP . Dalit leader Savitri Bai Phule, who recently joined the party after quitting the BJP will contest from her , current Bharaich seat. Former coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal will contest from his old seat Kanpur and Lalitesh Pati Tripathi from Mirzapur. Raj Babbar, who had earlier contested from Agra and Ferozabad, will now fight from Moradabad. — TNS ‘Leaked papers’ for Rafale plea Akalis nominate 2 jeopardised security:Centre moreforLSelection Affidavit in SC: Those who photocopied committed theft Chandumajra from Anandpur again New Delhi, March 13 A day before a crucial hearing in the case, the Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that documents filed by the petitioners seeking a review of its Rafale deal verdict are “sensitive to national security” and those who conspired in photocopying the papers have committed theft and put the security in jeopardy by leaking them. The Ministry of Defence said an internal inquiry is in progress over the leakage of sensitive documents. The affidavit filed by the ministry said documents attached by the petitioners — former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, as also activist advocate Prashant Bhushan — relate to war capacity of combat aircraft and have been widely circulated, ❝ Ruchika M Khanna Without permission of Centre, those who conspired in making the photocopy of sensitive documents and thereby committing theft... have adversely affected the sovereignty, security and friendly relations with foreign countries Affidavit by Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra available to the country’s enemy and adversaries. Attorney General KK Venugopal, on the March 6 hearing, had alleged that the review petition was based on the documents which were stolen from the ministry. Two days later, he claimed the Rafale documents were not stolen from the Defence Ministry and he had meant that the petitioners had used “photocopies of the original” papers, deemed secret. The ministry said secrecy was envisaged in various agreements that the Centre had entered into with France. The Centre said those who conspired in this leakage are guilty of offences under the IPC. The government on March 6 hearing had also threatened The Hindu newspaper with the Official Secrets Act for publishing articles based on them and also contempt of court. — PTI Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 13 The Shiromani Aakali Dal has decided to once again field Prem Singh Chandumajra from the Anandpur Sahib seat and former Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal from Jalandhar. Their names were finalised by the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) that met here today. Chandumajra and Atwal have been given the go-ahead to start campaigning. The party has so far decided on three candidates, including Bibi Jagir Kaur for the Khadoor Sahib seat. Allotting ticket to senior leaders is being seen as a tactical move to rebut charges levelled by Taksali leaders that senior leaders were being ignored. continued on page 7 Prem Singh Chandumajra The sitting MP from Anandpur Sahib won in 2014, defeating Congress stalwart Ambika Soni by 23,697 votes. The first president of the Youth Akali Dal, he made it to Parliament for the first time in 1996 and then again in 1998. Charanjit Singh Atwal A Dalit face in Shiromani Akali Dal, he was Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha during 2004-2009. The two-time MP from the Phillaur constituency also served as Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha twice, including during the last term of Parkash Singh Badal See colour code to know quality of khoya, paneer Only getting worse: Less than NDRI INITIATIVE Sensors on packaging will indicate the freshness of dairy products Parveen Arora Sensor would be visible on label on milk product Tribune News Service Karnal, March 13 Determining the quality of packaged dairy products after opening and tasting will be a thing of the past, as scientists of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) here have developed sensors to indicate the quality of packaged food by glancing at the colour. The colour will be visible on the sensor tag that will be inside the packaged food. The cost of the sensor tag, measuring 1 sq inch, is only Rs 2 and it will be visible in the packaged food through a window of the packet. The colour of good as well as risky How it works ■ Cost of sensor tag, measur- ing 1 sq inch, is only Rs 2 and it will be visible in the packaged food through a window of the packet. ■ The colour of good as well as risky dairy food will be printed on the packet, showing whether it can be bought or not. ■ Yellow colour will indicate the product is fit to consume and light red will mean it is spoiled dairy food will be printed on the packet, showing whether it can be bought or not. The NDRI has standardised the technology and is ready to transfer it to the dairy sector. The members of the team are Dr PN Raju, Senior Scientist; Dr AK Singh, Principal Scientist; and Rakesh Kumar and Uma, both PhD scholars. They started working on this project in January 2018. Initially, they demonstrated the sensors on ‘khoya’ (mawa) and ‘sandesh’, a Bengali sweet. Now, they have started trials on dairy products like cheese. Dr Raju said that although pasteurisation, freezing and preservation using additives were used to increase the shelf life of milk products and companies print expiry dates of dairy products on the label, changes in quality were not visible to consumers from the outside. Besides, the printed date was so small that not all customers could read it easily. “We have developed this sensor tag using the electrospinning technique and filed for the patent. We have standardised it and soon, it will be transferred to the dairy sector,” Dr AK Singh. Dr RRB Singh, Director, NDRI, said the dairy sector needed this kind of lowcost sensor. 7% of world leaders women UN: Greatly outnumbered by men in political power United Nations, March 13 When it comes to political power, women are totally outnumbered by men, accounting for less than 7 per cent of the world’s leaders and only 24 per cent of lawmakers, according to the latest statistics. UN General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa told delegates to the Commission on the Status of Women that there has been a “serious regression” in the political power of women across the world. The percentage of female elected heads of state dropped from 7.2 per cent to 6.6 — 10 out of 153 — from 2017 to 2018. The percentage of female heads of government dropped from 5.7 per cent to 5.2 — 10 out of 193 — in the same period. In parliaments, the global share of women increased by nearly one percentage point from 2017 to 2018, to 24.3 per cent. It took 25 years to get to that figure, from 11 per cent in 1995. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the executive director of UN Women, called the current environment “not the most enabling for women to rise”. “We also have pushback right now, which contributes to the slowing down of women wanting to contest for office, because it is brutal,” she said, citing political violence, verbal abuse, and abuse on social media that female candidates and politicians face in many countries. Mlambo-Ngcuka said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “called on us to push back against the pushback”. Women must be “change-makers”, she said, because national and global institutions were “made for men and by men”. — AP

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